Distracted driving — North Carolina Permit Test

Distracted driving is any activity that could divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving, and all distractions endanger the driver, passengers and bystanders.

Texting gets the headlines, but eating, grooming and fiddling with the radio pull your attention just the same.

Distracted driving is any activity that could divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving.

Distractions make drivers react more slowly to traffic events, fail more often to notice hazards, and make evasive moves harder, because many distractions take a hand off the wheel.

The car ahead brakes whether you are watching or not. A distracted driver sees it late and has one hand to deal with it.

Distractions cause drivers to react more slowly to traffic conditions or events, such as a car stopping to make a turn or pulling out from a side road.

It is unlawful to use a cell phone for email or text messages while operating a vehicle on a public street, highway or public vehicular area.

Reading a message takes your eyes off the road for seconds at a time. The law bans it for every driver, whatever their age.

It is unlawful to use a cell phone for email or text messages while operating a vehicle on a public street or highway or public vehicular area;

No person may operate a school bus on a public road while using a cell phone or any other technology associated with a mobile device.

A bus driver with a phone is a bus full of children with nobody watching the road. The law allows no exception.

No person shall operate a school bus on a public street or highway or public vehicular area while using a cell phone or any other technology associated with a mobile device;

Let a ringing phone go to voicemail and return the call when you are stopped somewhere safe, and secure the phone so it cannot become a projectile in a crash.

A missed call costs nothing. A loose phone in a crash becomes a hard object flying through the car.

Do not feel like you must answer the phone when it rings. Let someone leave a message and you can return the call when you are stopped at a safe location;

What counts as distracted driving?

Any activity that takes attention away from driving. Texting gets the headlines, but eating, grooming and fiddling with the radio pull your attention just the same. North Carolina Driver Handbook, p.41: “Distracted driving is any activity that could divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving.”